San Bernardino Police Chief Robert Handy announced Monday a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of suspects in three homicides of elderly women. (Melissa Pinion-Whitt/Staff Writer)

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Joanne Ballard, daughter of slain San Bernardino woman Wanda Lee Paulin, spoke during a press conference Monday at San Bernardino Police Department, where Police Chief Robert Handy announced a $10,000 reward in the Paulin case and two others. Paulin was killed in Dec. 2010 and her home was ransacked.

SAN BERNARDINO - Seven years and several miles separate a trio of killings that have stumped police.

But it was their similarities that convinced police to do something they don't often do in homicide cases: Offer a sizable reward for helping them catch the killers.

San Bernardino Police Chief Robert Handy on Monday announced $30,000 in rewards for information in the deaths of Mary Beth Blaskey, Josephine Frances Kelley and Wanda Lee Paulin - three elderly women who were found dead after their homes were burglarized.

"Any and all information is important," Handy said at a news conference Monday. "It may help us put together the puzzle to help solve these cases."

That puzzle has three common pieces: elderly women burglary and murder.

But in the seven years after Kelley's death, stronger links just aren't there.

Lt. Paul Williams said that despite the similarities in the cases, detectives do not suspect the same people committed each crime.

"There's no physical evidence that links the cases together," he said.

Police hope the rewards - $10,000 for information in each case - lead to some answers.

San Bernardino police generated a third of the reward money through the police union and the rest from asset forfeitures in drug cases. Officers and the victims' families are also seeking help from Gov. Jerry Brown to add another $50,000 in rewards for each case.

Joanne Ballard, Paulin's daughter, said a campaign she began a week ago has already generated 160 letters that will be sent to Brown.

She described the pain her family has felt since Paulin's death.

Ballard discovered her 86-year-old mother's body in their home in the 5000 block of North Mountain View Avenue on Dec. 12, 2010. Valuables - including an heirloom wedding ring and a blue topaz ring - had been stolen.

"The shock of finding her is so great, it will remain with me for the rest of my life," she said.

Similar circumstances surrounded the Nov.

From left: Wanda Lee Paulin, Mary Beth Blaskey and Josephine Frances Kelly. A press conference was held Monday at the San Bernardino Police Department to discuss the investigation into the murders of the three elderly women. (Lafonzo Carter/Staff Photographer)

14 death of Blaskey, whose body was found in her Fremontia Drive home by her son, Dirck Blaskey.

The 76-year-old woman's home had been ransacked and her 2001 Lexus ES300 was missing. No suspects have been identified.

"This is a horrible situation, and these people are dangerous," Dirck Blaskey said.

Police found the vehicle abandoned in the northeast part of town more than two weeks later, but no arrests have been made.

Blaskey, a longtime clerk and secretary for San Bernardino City Unified School District, had taken time off work because of illness about two weeks before her death.

Kelley was found dead by her daughter, Susan Hassett, in their Muscupiabe Drive home Sept. 15, 2005.